John 4:27-39

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him. ³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” ³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” ³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”

Axe

Ecclesiastes 10:10, ¹⁰ If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.

Have you ever tried cutting wood with an axe?

Have you ever swung an axe to cut down a tree?

One of the “underlying or true” reasons my father loved going to school as a kid was to avoid going to the forest to bring home firewood.

In the 1970s LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) has not yet reached my father’s nearly forgotten town, therefore, we used firewood to cook our food. Being the older son, he was obligated to do more of the labor in cutting down dead trees for firewood.

Cutting firewood is a very laborious, tiring, strength-demanding kind of work and it gave him hard corns and blisters on both his palms. He learned that by using a razor-sharp axe—cutting firewood required lesser effort. He could cut more firewood with a very sharp axe.

An axe or hatchet is one of the tools that need to be sharpened for more and better effectiveness.

Ministry tools in the church need sharpening, too.

In evangelism we have a good tool called the Evangelism Explosion but it is almost rusty because we seldom use it. Many tools will become rusty when we do not use them.

TMEC’s purpose is to introduce non-believers to Christ.

In our passage today, we can learn some tools our Lord Jesus used to bring non-believers to Himself. In our passage, the disciples came and were amazed that Jesus had been speaking with a Samaritan woman.

When the woman left, they said, “Rabbi.. eat something.”

There’s some implication why the disciples called Jesus “Rabbi.” Scholars say that the disciples did not question Jesus why he was talking to a Samaritan Woman. Speaking to a Samaritan is against the practice of Jews. But because Jesus was considered a RabbI, His disciples did not question what Jesus was doing.

Even though they did not question Jesus’ actions, the situation was still bizarre to the disciples which led them to asking Jesus to eat something as a ploy for Jesus to explain what he was doing there and then. But instead of answering their bait or lure to explain why He was talking with the Samaritan woman—Jesus answered them with… “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

This is an additional controversy that could possibly intrigue or fascinate the disciples. Who could possibly have brought Him food? The Samaritan Woman? Well, they did not say that. The disciples have a high regard for their Rabbi.

We can look back at the instances in the past chapters we have been studying for examples people who do not have the Spirit of God, people who were left baffled or bewildered when Jesus spoke of Spiritual matters.

In John 2:19-20, ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 

In John 3:3-4, ³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” ⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

In John 4:10-11, ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?

And here in our passage in verse 32 ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” The Disciples then asked themselves, “Who gave Him the sandwich?”

Spiritual matters can only be discerned through the Holy Spirit. Many times, when Jesus is speaking to us during the sermon, why we are not listening? We do not understand Spiritual things. We think that when we are serving in a ministry we do not need to listen.

The reason we do not want to listen is not because the preacher is boring or because the message is very familiar, but because we are not filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus continued in verses 34-38, ³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Scholars say that it is the practice of the Samaritans to go out of town in white clothes. Even in Africa they prefer to wear white clothes. White clothes have cooler effect under the sun.

Jesus compared the Samaritans in white clothing who were coming out of their town to the time of harvest when wheat and barley become white or ripe for harvest.

Jesus used this opportunity to teach His disciples of their duty. Following Jesus is to do His work that is to harvest souls for His kingdom.

TS: Let’s look at some tools Jesus used to bring much harvest to His kingdom.

1.  Jesus Uses our Experience with Him

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”

Before I explain how God uses our experience with Him, let me give you some thought-provoking ideas that may change your traditional perspective and may help you enjoy reading your Bible.

The author of John presented Jesus Christ initially utilized women as revolutionary arm of the church. The Gospel of John gives its readers an idea that Jesus can use the least expected person to magnify His glory. Women in Jesus’ time and earlier times were considered incapable of handling spiritual truth. But Jesus Himself broke that idea. He utilized the simple, the humble, the least expected but willing women.

In John chapter 1 Andrew brought his brother Simon Peter and Phillip brought Nathanael to Jesus. Both men brought one person each.

In John chapter 2 Mary—Jesus’ mother, told the servants to go to Jesus.

In our passage, the Samaritan woman brought not only one person but one community came to Jesus.

Can you see a strategy here?

Women are significant components of the church. Amen?

They are less threatening. They look so innocent and easier to approach. I am not surprised if women bring more people to church.

If our church want to have mass evangelization, utilize, deploy and make use of the service of women.

I am not saying this to disregard or ignore the men but to challenge the men to do better. Why better?

Because you are doing good and better things are yet to come.

Good things are enemies of better things. Let us strive for better and not be satisfied with “good enough” only.

Here’s another lesson for us. The disciples felt so exclusive. They felt special to be in the circle of friends of Jesus. Just like many of us, we feel good and special that we are in a Christian church.

While the disciples were watching and listening to Jesus, He showed the disciples that he can bring more people to him even without the help of his disciples. He utilized an outcast, an outsider Samaritan Woman.

The woman was an outcast. There was a well inside the town, but she preferred to walk almost half a mile just to draw water from Jacob’s Well to avoid the ridicule, scorn or mockery from the townsfolk.

But God has a plan for her. She was the first to be saved from her town.

Verse 36 says, “Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

The reaper and the sower may be glad together. Both the reaper and the sower draw their wages.

Jesus did not mention the watching disciples draw their wages.

So we have a choice…

We can come to church Sunday after Sunday without bringing in non-Christians and watch the reapers and sowers bringing in pre-believers. Then at the Judgment Day when Jesus is to give the rewards—we can also watch and clap our hands while those reapers and sowers are to receive their rewards.

Or we choose to join the reapers and sowers bringing in pre-believers to Jesus and then receive our rewards when Jesus comes back to reward us.

Now let’s go back to our first point.

How can Jesus use our personal experience with Him to bring in people to Him?

In verses 28-30 ²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

What significance does the phrase “leaving her water jar” mean in the story?

That is a testimony that the author of John was an eyewitness of the things he wrote in the Gospel.

Another is it creates a valid testimony for the woman among people of the town that she was at the well with Jesus and leaving her jar at the well while she went to get the townsfolk can prove to them that she was at the well.

Verse 29 showed the woman did not pretend to be knowledgeable of Christ. She was not doubting either, but she was just careful not to show herself as better than them.

If she stated something like, I know He is the Christ!

That statement will not invite curiosity instead she would have received ridicule and mockery like: What? You know He is the Christ? You? A woman? You think about spiritual truth?Are you now considering yourself an authority? How can you identify the Christ when in fact you cannot even identify things that are acceptable and things that are not?

Our testimonies most of the time prevent our relatives, friends, or acquaintances from believing because we think we are now the authority of telling them what they should and need to know.

Relatives

It was a pressure for my father then, as a pastor, when he expected my brother and sisters to live as Christians.

In 1997, my father’s older sister was sharing with me about her problem with her husband. As an eager Seminarian back then, my father thought he was good enough to teach my tita what to do.

So instead of listening to her problem, he diagnosed that her problem was that she was not practicing a Christian lifestyle and then he started telling her about eternal life.

Actually, my dad was awarded Evangelist of the Year in 1996. So his confidence that my tita will listen to him was so high. He was a know-it-all preacher who thought he can give solutions to any problem.

If you have Jesus, you have the answer, Jesus is the answer. We all think about that.

His sister cut my father off in the middle of his presentation. She told him that she is still young, strong, and eternal life is far from her thought. She was not ready for spiritual things. Worst, my tita was expecting my dad to be her listening ears. My tita’s “kakampi”. He became to her a preacher who was scolding her and he lost the chance to share of Jesus’ loving embrace.

Is this familiar experience?

When people are not spiritually prepared, it is hard to share the gospel. This applies to both the person sharing and the person being shared to. Pray that God would prepare you for your next encounter to share the Gospel.

APPLICATION:

Our Lord Jesus uses our personal experience with Him.

It is a very significant tool to bring in people to Christ.

There is a proper way of sharing our experiences with Jesus Christ.

If possible, do not preach to people.

Instead like the Samaritan Woman, just tell of your personal experience with Jesus.

If you don’t have any personal experience to share, like changes in your life, your character, your lifestyle, your mindset, or your outlook in life. Then perhaps, you have not yet experienced the Living God yourself. Then this becomes a hindrance for you to bring people to His church.

If you remain the same for all those years that you are here, assess your life again.

What is the evidence in your life that you really have truly encountered the Lord Jesus? What is your proof to say that you have eternal life? Has your attitude toward other people changed? Has your character showed that you have grown?

Those questions are not meant to demean. Those questions are not meant to humiliate you but to wake you up.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is a waste of your time coming here Sunday after Sunday or Prayer Meeting after Prayer Meeting… giving your tithes and offering… praying in our small groups or serving in a ministry, if you are not getting any Spiritual nourishment or growth.

Ask Jesus to help you experience Him more personally.

Ask Jesus to remove those attitudes you don’t even like yourself to be having. Ask Jesus to fill you with the Holy Spirit everyday. Yes, every morning. If possible every time you remember.

Ask Jesus to fill your heart with the Holy Spirit. 

If you consider yourself to have truly experienced Jesus Christ personally but you still find it hard to push yourself to share with others your experience with Jesus, enlist for the next Evangelism training to sharpen your Evangelism tool of sharing your faith.

Strive to earn more rewards in heaven and not just on earth. Don’t be a mere audience to those who will be receiving their rewards. Enlist for the next Evangelism training to sharpen your Evangelism tool of sharing your faith.

If you consider yourself as a growing Christian, enlist for the next Evangelism training to sharpen your Evangelism tool of sharing your faith.

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